Roof construction and method of laying roll roofing



F.. $HERRIFF ROOF CONSTRUCTION AND .METHOD OF LAYINGROLL ROOFING Filed Oct. 11, 1957 l'lllull llllllll Fig--1" INVENTOR Fred SherruFF BY 6k (1.0 M ATTORNEY -'Patented Jan. 17, 1939 UNITED STATES 2,144,163; ROOF CONSTRUCTIONUAIND'F METHOD OF 1 LAYING ROLL ROOFING Fred Sheri-iii, Battle Creek, Mich, assignor to Sherriff-Goslin 00., Battle Creek, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application October 11,

. e 6 Claims.

The present inventionrelates broadly to surface coverings, and in its specific phases, it deals with a special form of roof covering, as well as a special method of laying roll roofing.

The problems of how to construct roofs and how to repair leaking roofs have been before the roofing art and building owners since early times. During colonial times, and prior thereto, the common practice was to use steep pitch roofs which were covered with slate shingles or wooden shingles laid in wide overlaphorizontal courses. With the advent of roll roofing, low pitch relatively fiat roofs came into common use, particularly in connection with storesand factory buildings. The leakage tendency of these'relatively flat roofs, due to back fiow of Water, was many times greater than the old steep pitch roofs and to take care of this the roofing art at once decided that the thing to use would be a roof covering made from rolled stock'laid shingle fashion in horizontal courses, four or more plies deep. Roofs of this typeare still in common use, and particularly so where same has a heavy coating of asphalt and gravel on the upper face thereof. An early modification of this roof is shown in Patent No. 55,891 of 1866 wherein the roll roofingwas laid diagonally of the roof in overlapping manner so that-the exposure was slightly less than half the Width of the ro1l roofing. A sec-- ond diagonal course at right angles to the first Was laid thereover in like manner-,the two diagonal courses thus producing a four ply roof over whicha'coating of cement and gravelwas placed. This type of roof has never gone into general use,

i since it permits leakage without upward flow between plies, once water passes under the edge of the'top layer of roofing. Patent No. 156,639 of 1874 shows a further attempt to use a multiply roof covering for low pitch roofs. This roof covering utilized two courses of drytarred paper nailed to the roof without cement between plies or overlaps, one course horizontal, and the other vertical. A layer of plastic slate, tar, and wool waste, was spread over these two layers, and then a third layer of tarred paper laid, and over this another layer of plastic slate, tar, and Wool waste on top of which was placed a coating of gravel or course sand. Generally speaking in reference to this construction, as well as other types of multi-ply construction, it may be said that the roll roofing art deals with either inoperable constructions, or else with constructions which are cumbersome, unduly expensive, only partially satisfactory, temporarily water-proof, or the like. The present invention, in view of this situation,

1937, Serial No. 168,377 (01. 10357) has been dev'isedto overcome the shortcomings of such prior art.

Accordingly, among the objects of the present inventionis the provision of a roof laid in two plies, the first ply being laid horizontally, with the edges of its courses overlapping, shingle fashion, the second ply being laid vertically thereover and formed from courses having overlapping edges, and the two plies cemented together.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wrinkle-free roof laid from roll roofing.

Another object is to provide a roof wherein the first or horizontal ply is nailed to the roof deck, and the second or vertical ply is laid thereover and cemented in place.

Another object is to provide a two ply roof which is exceptionally resistant to leakage.

Another object is to provide a two ply roof construction wherein plain roll roofing may be used as the first or horizontal ply, and the top or vertical ply may be formed from roll roofing witha-n asphalt coat on the upper face thereof into which crushed rock or the like has been pressed. H

A further'object is to provide an improved method of laying the upper or vertical course,- while cementing same in place so as to eliminate wrinkles.

A further object is to provide a roof construction which is simple to lay, exceptionally resistant to leakage, much lighter than the multi-ply constructions commonly used, and which is relatively inexpensive.

Still further objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, consists of the steps and means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the annexed drawing and the following description setting forth in detail certain means and one mode of carrying out the invention, such disclosed means andmode illustrating, however, but one of various ways in which the principle of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawing:

Figure 1 shows one form ofthe roof in the course of construction.

Figure 2 is a section of the] roof taken along the line 2! of Figure 1.

Figure 3'-is a section of the roof taken along the line 3-3 of Figure'l.

Figure 4 is a section of the roof taken along the line Il -4 of Figure l, and shows strip 5 completelyla'id,

In laying the roof of the present invention, the first or horizontal ply formed from strips I normally is not cemented to the roof deck 2, since such construction usually results in injury to the first ply due to the contraction and expansion of the boards, or the like, in the roof deck itself when such is of wooden construction. The horizontal ply is preferably held in place by means of nails 3 which may be placed in shower nailing fashion. When nailing is done in this manner, the nails are scattered so as to be approximately six or eight inches apart without any special regularity of placing the nails. I

Referring more particularly to Figure 1, the horizontal strips I placed on the roof deck 2 are laid so that the lower edge of one overlies the upper edge of the next lower strip in shingle fashion. To still further increase the leakage resistance of this overlapping joint, it may be provided with a suitable cement 4 which may be applied in the form of molten asphalt, pitch, mastic made from asbestos fiber in liquid asphalt (asphalt dissolved ina suitable solvent such as naphtha,-gasoline, kerosene, or the like) or other suitable cement for roll roofing. The horizontal ply may be made from a suitable roll roofing materialsuch as tarred felt or asphalt saturated felt. One satisfactory form of the'latter is of plain construction weighing thirty pounds to the square. The cement 4 may be put in place in any suitable manner as by mopping, or the like. However a-yery convenient procedure for doing this is to place the cement 4 in a gun and then-squirt same in continuous ribbon form on the area to be overlapped. The upper horizontal strip may then be pressed down at the overlap onto the cement. to form a water-tight joint.

Afterthe horizontalstrips I have been laid and fastened -in place, the roof is ready to have the vertical strips 5 laid. These vertical strips 5 are laid so as to have a vertical side-lap 6 which is cementedto prevent side leakage. A suitable cement such as pitch, molten asphalt, or the like, is used for fastening the vertical strips 5 to the upper face of the horizontal ply, and preferably the same material is used for cementing side-lap 6. This type of construction eliminates nail holes in the face of the upper ply and hence acts to minimize-leakage. 1

The upper strips 5 may be laid and cemented inplace in various ways. However, such'laying shouldbe carried 7. outin manner avoiding wrinkles, since wrinkles are the incipient source ofleakage. A preferred way to lay a vertical course, or any course to be cemented in place, consists of unrolling strip material, such as the roll roofing 1, in the desired direction on the roof, at least a substantial portion of the length of the course to be laid. This permits the free unrolled section to be vlined'up so that when the unrolling is continued, the desired amount of overlap will be provided throughout the remaining length of the strip without wrinkles. Having the roll I thus partly unrolled, as is. shown in Figure 1, then the cement 8, for instance, hot molten asphalt of the type obtained in the distillation of asphaltbase oils, is mapped onto the roof below the roll I and the roll unrolled downward thereonto. This procedure is continued until the bottom or eve edge of the roof is reached. The un-v cemented -upper end of the strip is then rolled back to the point where the cementing started and cement is placed in front of same as before and the roll rolled upward thereonto until the end of the strip or course is reached. .While the unrolling is taking place and before the ocment 8 has hardened, the unrolled portion may be compressed into the cement 8 by means of a roller or the like to form a tightly sealed substantially bubble free union between the horizontal strips I and vertical strips 5, as well as at the vertical overlap.

The vertical ply formed from strips 5 is preferably of the same general type as the horizontal ply formed from strips 1 except that in preferred construction, it is in the form of asphalt saturated felt, the upper'face of which is coated with asphalt onto which crushed slate has been pressed. A standard material of this nature will weigh approximately ninety pounds to the square.

The laying of a roof in this manner not only cuts down the labor and material required to cover a unit area, but also produces a moderately light-weight, highly efficient construction. A roof laid in this manner is also exceptionally resistantto leakage, since any water which might pass underthe side-lap of the vertical courses of strips will have an easier path to follow in working out again through the side-lap than it will to work upward through the cemented overlapping joints of'the horizontal ply formed from strips I Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the means and the steps herein disclosed, provided those stated by any of the following claims or their equivalent be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. -In a method of laying roll roofing, the steps which comprise partially unrolling the roll in place and using such unrolled portion to line up the roll for unrolling in wrinkle-free manner in desired position,applying cement in front of such roll and rollng same thereonto in step with the application of cement, re-rolling the first unrolled portion down to the point of initial starting of cementing, applying cement in front of such roll, and rolling same thereonto in step with the application of cement.

2. ma method of laying roll roofing, the steps which'comprise partially unrolling the roll in place and using such unrolled portion to line up theroll for unrolling in wrinkle-free manner in desired position,'applying cement in front of such roll androlling same thereonto in step with the application of cement, re-rolling the first unrolled portion down to the point of initial starting of cementing, applying cement in front of such roll, rolling same thereonto in step with the application of cement, and before said cement has hardened applying pressure to the upper face of said roofing to compress same into the cement and form a tight seal therewith.

3. In a roof, the combination of a ply formed from horizontally laid strips of roll roofing, said strips being laid shingle fashion with a relatively narrow overlap, cement between the adjacent faces of said overlapping portion to fasten same together, nails as the sole means of fastening said horizontal strips in place with said nails spaced from the cemented overlapping portions, vertical strips of roll roofing laid with overlapping edges,-said vertical strips being fastened together at the overlapand to the horizontal strips solely by means of a suitable cement.

4. In a roof, the combination of a roof deck, saidgroof deckbeing-uncoated with adhesive, a plyformed from strips .ofroll roofing laid horizontally thereon, said strips being laid shingle fashion with a relatively narrow overlap, cement between the adjacent faces of said overlap portion to fasten same together, nails driven in shower nailing pattern through said strips and spaced from said cemented overlap as the sole means of fastening said horizontal strips to said roof deck, vertical strips of roll roofing laid over said horizontal ply, said Vertical strips having relatively narrow overlapping edges and being fastened together at the overlap and to the horizontal ply solely by means of a suitable cement.

5. A method of laying a series of vertical courses of roll roofing in overlapped relation on a roof structure having a series of courses of horizontal roll roofing laid. thereon in shingle fashion with the adjacent edges of the horizontal courses overlapping, said method consisting of partially unrolling the roll for a vertical course in place and using such unrolled portion to line up the roll for unrolling in wrinkle-free manner in desired position, applying cement in front of such roll and rolling same thereonto in step with the application of cement, re-rolling the first unrolled portion down to the point of initial starting of cementing, applying cement in front of such roll and rolling same thereonto in step with the application of cement.

6. The method of laying roll roofing, which consists of laying on a suitable roof structure a series of horizontal courses of roll roofing with the adjacent edges overlapping shingle fashion, and then laying thereover a series of vertical courses of roll roofing with adjacent edges overlapping, each of said vertical courses being laid by partially unrolling the roll in place and using such unrolled portion to line up the roll for further unrolling in wrinkle-free manner in desired position, applying cement in front of such roll and rolling same thereonto in step with the application of cement, re-rolling the first unrolled portion down to the point of initial starting of cementing, applying cement in front of such roll and rolling same thereonto in step with the application of cement.

FRED SHERRIFF. 

